Why Cesuna
My family connection to Cesuna
My wife’s family has roots in Cesuna, in northern Italy. Through them, I have heard about wartime experiences and relatives who left in search of work. Some of those stories connect the town to families in Australia, Chicago, and elsewhere.
Giorgio Spiller, a local historian I know, has spoken with me about fewer children in town and limited opportunities for younger people. I’d like to hear more about how residents experience those changes and what they hope for the town.
The chapter will follow what people have learned from their own lives and from the generations before them.
Giorgio Spiller’s work
I plan to begin with Giorgio, who has spent years collecting older residents’ memories. He is concerned that fewer of those stories are being passed down within families. I’d like to ask how he began collecting them, what people chose to tell him, and how his view of Cesuna has changed through that work.
One account I want to follow concerns an amphitheater he uncovered on his land, where he has held occasional performances. I’ll ask him about its history and how it came back into use.
Giorgio has described Cesuna as “dying.” His concerns include the lack of opportunities for young people and the loss of traditions. That is his account of the town, and I also want to hear how other residents see its future.
Memories of the wars
First World War trenches and military positions remain around the plateau, including near Monte Zovetto. They give the wartime history a physical presence in places people still walk through.
In my wife’s family, a story from the Fascist and Second World War period describes relatives leaving Cesuna at night because troops were approaching and teenage boys risked being taken for military service. The historical details still need checking. I’ll keep the family’s account distinct from what the records establish.
I’d like to hear which wartime stories Giorgio grew up with and how those accounts were told to later generations.
Families who left and families who stayed
Emigration is another part of the chapter. People left Cesuna for Australia, Chicago, and other places, sometimes without returning to live in the town.
I’m interested in how families managed those separations. How did they keep in touch? Who took on responsibilities after someone left? What did children growing up elsewhere learn about Cesuna, and which customs remained part of their lives?
Conversations with younger residents will help me understand how decisions about leaving or staying are made today.
What people learned
I’ll ask about the practical responses to difficult periods: who helped after a death, how people managed when money was short, and what children learned by watching the adults around them.
Those conversations should also help explain how a lesson changes. Someone may still value advice from a parent while choosing to raise their own children differently. I want to understand the circumstances behind that decision.
What the accounts can tell us
I expect to hear about practices that helped people and about things they endured because they had little choice. The interviews will determine which of those experiences belong in the chapter.
Psychological research can help me consider why a particular response was useful or why it persisted after circumstances changed. One person’s account will still be their own, with room for others to remember it differently.
The photographs
The chapter will use original photographs of people and the places connected to their accounts. With permission, I’d like to photograph Giorgio and his collected material, as well as homes and community spaces that help explain the stories.
Wartime sites and memorials will be part of that work. So will ordinary life in Cesuna today.
A question for the interviews
If somebody from Cesuna reads this fifty years from now, what is the one thing you hope they still know?
